Call for Contributions to an Essay Collection: Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye

The editor is currently seeking proposals for an essay collection investigating and interrogating the popular Transformers franchise.

With this summer's release of a third major blockbuster film, along with an ongoing comic series, and a new cartoon series, on top of perennial toylines, the Transformers franchise has grown and developed significantly from its humble start in 1984 as a toy-hawking cartoon, while many of its mid-80s peers have languished in neglect. What is it that has captured the imagination for so long? What has kept it alive through so many changes of media, market pressure, and fictive universe?

This collection is seeking to answer that question from a myriad of perspectives. We invite authors to write from any perspective. Here are some possible—but not exclusionary—topics: __Imperialism/Colonialism __Portrayals of gender in both the robots and their human associates __Technophilia/technophobia __ Development of canon __Hasbro/Corporate Influence __Metaphors of invasion __Good vs evil: How evil are those 'Evil Decepticons'? How 'good' are the Autobots? __Impact of media on narratology

Please submit a 500 word abstract to delonga@sunysuffolk.edu by 1 Nov 2011. Queries, and less formal questions also welcome.